Forever and a Day
by NotbendingNotbreaking
Summary: Sirius Black, now 18 years old and on his own, is having some financial troubles. When he finds the perfect solution to pay his debts, will the ending be as perfect as expected?


**a/n: **So I'm sorry my Instant Star readers, I'm straying into Harry Potter :) I guess I'm feeling a bit more magical than musical right now, forgive me. I don't really know how this will turn out. I'm also going to have some of my own characters (Lily wasn't the only Gryffindor girl in the day.)

So yes, this is Marauders era and I've been studying up as best I could to get all the facts, dates, ages, etc, etc, so that my story is accurate as possible :) Correct me if I make a mistake.

There is about two American dollars in one British pound (£) Also, there's a bit of language in this, but nothing serious enough to bump it up to M.

Anyways, here's the beginning. Enjoy!

* * *

A glorious month of sunshine, waking up at noon, and doing whatever seemed pleasurable passed by. Yes, summer of 1976 was going well for Sirius Black. His uncle had given him some money the last summer and the Marauders spent a month finding the perfect home. It was a few streets away from Godric's Hollow, where James lived, but the house was fit for a king; it had two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a bathroom, and two small yards in back and front. It even came complete with a white picket fence! Alas, there was trouble in paradise.

It was another lazy Monday afternoon, with sunny, crisp atmosphere. Sirius sat in his living room with opened envelopes and crumpled papers scattered across the coffee table. Running his hand through his hair, Sirius picked up and tri-folded sheet of paper.

"Bloody hell." He mumbled to himself. "How am I going to pay this arse load of debt?"

As if an answer from God himself, a man of equal age and size stumbled into the room with a newspaper in hand. With handsome movements he grinned broadly and stopped in front Sirius.

"I've got it!" The raven-haired boy exclaimed.

"Prongs," Sirius snapped, "I'm not trying out to be another mascot."

"No, no. I've really got it." James 'Prongs' Potter plopped on the plush couch beside Sirius and handed the crumply newspaper to him.

Sirius looked over the paper. James had circled an advertisement in bright purple highlighter. He read it quickly, scanning for the gist of the deal.

_Find the hidden treasure _

_HCN, an American television network, is looking for fifteen teams of two people, eighteen or older, to star in a new television series- _Race to the Riches_. The teams will began in Virginia City, California, and end up in an unknown destination just under two months later. This new series will be appearing in countries across the world, including Canada and Great Britain._

_In each leg of the race, teams will be given a vague map and a destination where the host, Jill Benson, awaits at a checking point. Teams have two days, while being filmed and completing minor tasks, to reach the checking point. The last team to arrive, or any team that does not make it in the two-day limit, will be eliminated. After everyone has checked in, teams get one day to rest. The following day the teams are released on the next mission in the order they arrived. The first team to arrive at the final destination wins a grand prize of $50,000. For entering details see page F2._

A curious expression arose on Sirius's face. "Sounds brilliant. But how are we supposed to get to America?"

"Well, my parents might lend us some money to get there, and then we won't need any once we do." James bit his lip in thought.

"How much is $50,000?" Sirius massaged his temple.

"About £25,000."

"That would completely pay off my debt, and then some!" Sirius jumped up from the couch. "We've got to win!"

"We need to get into the contest before we can win, mate." James stated bluntly.

"We're going to need reinforcement." Sirius nodded and began to pace around. After a few moments of silence, he spoke again. "Do you still have Lily's… ah… tell-eh-number?"

"Her what?" James adjusted his glasses and squinted up at his friend.

"Her number." Sirius grunted. He walked out of the room briefly and appeared with telephone box in hand. "Her number!" He took phone off its receiver and swung it around by the coil.

"Er, yeah." James grinned and dug into his jeans pocket. He soon withdrew a small piece of parchment with a number scrawled across it.

"You carry her number in your trousers?" Sirius began to bellow out laughing. "You don't even know how to use it!"

"Oh, bite me." James snapped, pocketing the paper quickly and standing up to leave.

"Come on, Prongsy." Sirius continued to snicker. "How did you even get her digits?"

A sheepish grin appeared on James' face. "I bribed Ash."

Sirius snorted and began to guffaw once again. Ash was a close friend of Lily's, another Gryffindor about to enter her seventh year with the maruaders, and he doubted that she would betray Lily that easily. "With what?"

"Your journal from fourth year." Laughter was immediately exchanged; Sirius was now pink in the cheeks and very solemn, while James broke into hysterics.

Sirius set down the phone and stared at James in disbelief. "You're having a tin bath, mate."

"No, I'm bloody serious." The laughter on James' face slowly faded.

"Do you have any idea what was in there! Fucking journal fad." He ran his fingers through his hair and looked around nervously.

"So fourth year was your pimp year, so what?"

"So I wrote about everything." Sirius bit his thumbnail nervously. "_Everything_."

James sat in contemplation, thinking about the incidents of their fourth year at Hogwarts. That was the real beginning of their interest in girls, and Sirius really went at it. Finally shrugging, James took Lily Evans' telephone number out of his pocket. "Whatever, that was a few weeks ago anyways."

"Prongs I'm going to-"

"Just take the number and bell her." James shoved the parchment in Sirius's hand and waited for him to make the call.


End file.
